Lucia Newman looks back on the life of deceased President Hugo Chavez who she met on several occassions.

The Chavez I knew was kind and generous with his friends and allies , but merciless when it came to insulting, ridiculing and taunting his foes. He knew no limits. Chavez called US President George W. Bush a donkey, “Mr Danger”, and Satan, and his neighbour (former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe) a fascist, an ignoramus and a murderer.The Chavez I knew had the rare quality of being simultaneously extraordinary and like any ordinary man. He joked, danced, sang, hugged and kissed. He connected with Venezuelans, especially poor Venezuelans, like no one could. He was often straight out vulgar, but he knew his own people and they applauded his outbursts.

Chavez will undoubtedly go down in history as a man who above all believed in social justice and put the needs of Venezuelans millions of poor on the front burner of the country’s political agenda.

Now there's a name that brings back memories. Memories of CNN when they were a real news channel. The only one we've ever really had.

Fox and MSNBC aren't really news channels. They're both opinion channels. I think that MSNBC is much more honest than Fox, but still they're both all about editorializing. We used to have CNN to turn to when we wanted the hard news, the facts. That was when they had real reporters like Lucia Newman, and anchors like Lou Waters. You could watch CNN for an hour in the late afternoon, and you felt like you knew about every important event that was happening in the world.

Nowadays, CNN is just weird. They are all about gimmicks. Holograms of mediocre pop stars, and misfunctioning "wonder walls." And just plain stupid "analysis" by people like John King stating that Obama won not a single county in Alabama. (What?)

I think, and hope, that CNN would have more success if they went back to having good reporters, like Lucia Newman, and good anchors, like Lou Waters. And quit devoting most of their air-time to projecting 3D images of ultimately meaningless tabloid BS about that Jodi whatever woman directly into my cerebral cortex.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent. I'm bad about that.

Back on point. Chavez had good points and bad points. He did help poor people in Venezuela (and to an extent in America), but he was also a dictator. I don't really care for dictators. So I have mixed feelings about the guy.

BigAlJr wrote:Chavez had good points and bad points. He did help poor people in Venezuela (and to an extent in America), but he was also a dictator. I don't really care for dictators. So I have mixed feelings about the guy.

Does a man who managed to steal from public funds a personal fortune somewhere around $2 billion .... really help the poor as much as he could?

If he helped the poor a bit ... does he get 'a pass' from the media and others for stealing that much money from the people? Sad to say, but looks like it does. His heirs will enjoy that cash and live lavishly I guess. Unless the people wise up and get it back.

BigAlJr wrote:Chavez had good points and bad points. He did help poor people in Venezuela (and to an extent in America), but he was also a dictator. I don't really care for dictators. So I have mixed feelings about the guy.

Does a man who managed to steal from public funds a personal fortune somewhere around $2 billion .... really help the poor as much as he could?

If he helped the poor a bit ... does he get 'a pass' from the media and others for stealing that much money from the people? Sad to say, but looks like it does. His heirs will enjoy that cash and live lavishly I guess. Unless the people wise up and get it back.

Proof, link or hearsay?

I Do Not Debate Stupidity, Nor My Superiors, All Others I Teach. __Dr John Henrik Clarke

"Racism is very characteristic of imperialism and capitalism. Hate against me has a lot to do with racism. Because of my big mouth and curly hair. And I'm so proud to have this mouth and this hair, because it is African." - Hugo Chavez, September 21, 2005

The president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, lamented the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"We have lost a great and courageous leader, a leader who supported freedom movements around the world. He is one of dozens of symbols, such as Simon Bolivar, who struggled for equality and justice. The memory of Chavez will remain imprinted in our memories, as a courageous leader, as a person who strongly supported our legitimate right to independence and the establishment of the Palestinian State”.

I Do Not Debate Stupidity, Nor My Superiors, All Others I Teach. __Dr John Henrik Clarke

When he came down with cancer nearly two years ago, his Socialist Party had just lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. He knew that to guarantee victory in the October, 2012 presidential elections, he and no one else had to be the candidate. According to sources close to him, Chavez refused to undergo the entire chemotherapy treatment that his doctors had insisted he needed to survive. He said he could not campaign if he felt ill. “He once said that if he had to consume himself, he would consume himself for the cause of the Venezuelan people. He gave himself to his people to such an extent that he put his health and his life at risk.”, National Assembly Deputy Jorge Chavez (no relation) told me the week before President Chavez died.

I remember being taken aback when I heard President Chavez refer to himself in the third person at a campaign rally last September. ”I am not Chavez. We are all Chavez, you are all Chavez. Chavez is the Revolution that cannot be destroyed.”, he roared, as thousands chanted CHAVEZ CHAVEZ CHAVEZ in unison.

I Do Not Debate Stupidity, Nor My Superiors, All Others I Teach. __Dr John Henrik Clarke

BigAlJr wrote:Chavez had good points and bad points. He did help poor people in Venezuela (and to an extent in America), but he was also a dictator. I don't really care for dictators. So I have mixed feelings about the guy.

Does a man who managed to steal from public funds a personal fortune somewhere around $2 billion .... really help the poor as much as he could?

If he helped the poor a bit ... does he get 'a pass' from the media and others for stealing that much money from the people? Sad to say, but looks like it does. His heirs will enjoy that cash and live lavishly I guess. Unless the people wise up and get it back.

I said that Chavez was a dictator, and that I don't care for dictators.

Chavez got a pass from the media? Really?

I strongly suspect that a certain American family of politicians has stolen way more than $2 billion dollars from the public. I'd love to get that money back, but it doesn't seem likely to happen. Their heirs will enjoy that cash and live lavishly I guess, and fund more campaigns. Unless the people wise up and get it back.

But that isn't likely to happen, because their crimes have largely been ignored by the media.

Ginned-up wars and bank scandals are very profitable endeavors in our dear America.

State Department officials have voiced hope that Maduro will prove a more pragmatic leader than the often bombastic Chavez, assuming he wins a full term.

Television cameras captured Hollywood star Sean Penn at the funeral, while the Rev. Jesse Jackson preached rapprochement between his country and Venezuela.

"We pray to God today that you will heal the breach between the U.S. and Venezuela," Jackson said. He later attended Maduro's swearing-in, and was hailed by the acting president as "a good man from the United States."

U.S. enemies such as Castro and Ahmadinejad won loud applause.

"It is a great pain for us because we have lost a friend," Ahmadinejad said upon his arrival at the airport the night before. "I feel like I have lost myself, but I am sure that he still lives. Chavez will never die. His spirit and soul live on in each of our hearts."

I Do Not Debate Stupidity, Nor My Superiors, All Others I Teach. __Dr John Henrik Clarke